COMMISSIONERS CHAFE AT PAYING FOR CHUCK STILLMAN'S LOVE CRIB, DA MAYOR'S DRUNKEN-SAILOR SPENDING

By Juan Montoya
Well, the chickens have come to roost.
After cavalierly doling out $39,000 of a public utility settlement fund to move a ranch home belonging to the millionaire family of Charles Stillman, Brownsville's alleged founder, some city commissioners are finally chafing under the autocratic habits of Da Mayor Tony Martinez.
For years, the Stillman Laureles Ranch house was left forgotten on the old Spanish land grant 22 miles south of Corpus Christi. Then, deciding it was eyesore compared to the other houses on the spread, it was moved off the ranch several years ago and placed under the stewardship of the Corpus Christi Heritage Society.
Then, in a collaborative effort between the City of Brownsville, the BHA and private donations, the Stillman Ranch House was brought to the city in November 2012 to where the founder of Brownsville lived and made his fortune.  The approximate cost to move the home was estimated at $65,000.
Instead, the commissioners were told that the total to just move the house from Corpus Christi and from the Cueto property to the linear park is at $39,000 and counting.
Now at least three city commissioner – Ricardo Longoria, John Villarreal, and Estela Chavez-Vasquez – think that Martinez and Asst. City Manager for Finance Pete Gonzalez have usurped their administrative functions and stepped onto the purview of the commission.
District 3 Commissioner Deborah Portillo and Villarreal asked for the item to be presented along with Villarreal who suggested that the commission develop some sort of budget for the remaining $2.6 million.
The wooden building that was located west of San Patricio, in San Patricio County, some 165 miles away, was moved last year and planners were hoping that it would be ready in time for the annual Charro Days Stillman family reunion.
Brownsville Comprehensive Planning Manager Ramiro Gonzalez said at the time that the restoration, however, would take place over the next two or three years.
What wasn't mentioned at the time that the "ranch house" was moved without the expenses going through the commissioners for their approval was that the city would use some of the more than $3 million awarded it from its suit against American Electric Power Texas Central Co.
According to reports in the local daily, the city sued the utility company over ownership transfer issues after the controlling interest owner opted to sell.
Gonzalez presented the item during the last city meeting showing the usage of some of the money the City of Brownsville received from its settlement with American Electric Power Texas Central Co.
Gonzalez reported that the move from Corpus to Brownsville cost $25,000 and the settlement money was used to cover that expenditure.
The second relocation cost $14,000 and was charged to the city Oct. 22, 2013 and again settlement money was used to cover it.
City Manager Charlie Cabler said that he would start to provide reports on the expenditures from the fund in the future.
So what do you do when the horse is already out the gate?
The commissioners decided to schedule a workshop to discuss the use of the funds, as well as other purchases made that were beneath the threshold and did not come before the commission.
Among those expenditures were purchases of buildings downtown and the renting of a building to house a new Downtown Revitalization Information Center.
Martinez has made it a habit to spend OPM (Other People's Money). Since he's been in office he has used the discretionary $35,000 limit like his personal ATM.
Word has it that the mayor – at the behest of Carlos Marin, his mentor and confidante – had scores of visitors flown in and housed in local swank hotels in late 2012 for a high-priced workshop. When the bill came in and the piper had to be paid, it is said Martinez sent the bill to Gonzales with the order to "pay it."
Martinez, an attorney who is used to doing everything discreetly and behind the scenes, apparently doesn't know that the public has the right to know what their representatives are up to and what they are doing with their money. If he wants to spend money at will, he can always spend his own and no one will question him. But when he spends and then delivers the fait accompli to the city administration and expects them to pay the piper now, it may be that he has got another thing coming.
These expenses include the real-estate purchases, the contracting of outside consultants for the Better Block, All In, buildingcommunities WORKSHOP, United Brownsville funding, etc.
– In July 2012 he had City Manager Charlie Cabler authorize the payment of $1,500 to one R. Steven Lewis, a licensed architect and self-described "UTB Relocation Consultant." In a previous email, Lewis had said that he would just require payment of his air fare from California and his room at the Marriott Courtyard for "Mayor Martinez." Then, just five days later on July 31, Lewis apparently had a change of heart and Cabler received another email invoice from Lewis, this time for $4,500 for his "UT Brownsville Relocation Consultation." Martinez ordered the city staff to pay it.
– The Complete Streets Workshop" held May 16 featured Kevin St. Jaques, a member of the Complete Streets Speakers Bureau which was held at the mayor's initiative and which required the Brownsville Community Incentives Corporation (BCIC) to fork over $5,000, of which $2,300 was paid to Freese and Nichols, of Ft. Worth, to have Jaques tell us that our things as they were in Browntown left much to be desired.
–  Gil Peñalosa, the executive director of the 8-80 Cities, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, came on Tony's behalf and told us on August 28-30 at a conference at the Cueto Building that we should be ashamed of ourselves for having such bad streets, sidewalks and phantom bus shelters. Almost a month (August 1) before Peñalosa browbeat the citizens, city administrators and local bigwigs over the condition of our infrastructure and lack of sidewalks and shoddy streets, the city meekly approved payment to him for $7,974 that included $6,500 for professional services, $988 for air transportation, and $485 for accommodations and meals in good old "American dollars," as he requested, not in discounted Canadian currency.
– The  building communityWORKSHOP of Dallas which includes four principals of Design/Program and another four support assistants have been working for Tony on his UTB proposal to entice the Hidalgo County-bound UT System to "please stay in little old' Browntown and we'll give you all kinds of land to do it."
The mayor has convinced a way too pliant city commission to approve real estate purchases in the downtown area totalling more than $4 million to be paid by future taxation on residents' property and "some surpluses" from the city landfill and airport.
– buildingcommunityWORKSHOP has made Tony's pipe dream an industry. It's first invoice for the ongoing work for Tony's UTB proposal cost us a tidy sum.
Their first invoice landed on Cabler's desk with a thud. The hit for putting together a Request For Proposals which could have been done in-house by a planning intern was not cheap. Would you believe $27,803.12 which included round-trip flights from Dallas to Harlingen for its principal at a cost of $541. 20 (Sept. 21), $347.20 (Oct. 3), and $535.20 (Oct. 8)?
Among the items in the invoice for the $475 monthly rent on an apartment (Sept. 21) needed to house the
The most recent Martinez extravagences are documented in Jim Barton's www.meanmisterbrownsville.blogspot.
Is the city commission ready to stop the profligate spending by our spendthrift mayor? Or will he squelch the minor revolt that has erupted over his spending?